Don't expect Boston Bruins to catch Rangers

Friday

Mar 2, 2012 at 6:00 AM

It’s mathematically possible for the Bruins to overtake the New York Rangers and secure the top seed in the Eastern Conference. There’s also a chance gas prices will fall and Pink Floyd will reunite in the coming weeks. In other words, not happening.

By Rich Garven TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It’s mathematically possible for the Bruins to overtake the New York Rangers and secure the top seed in the Eastern Conference. There’s also a chance gas prices will fall and Pink Floyd will reunite in the coming weeks.

In other words, not happening.

The Bruins trail the Rangers by nine. Both teams have 20 games remaining, including a pair against each other at Madison Square Garden, the first of which is Sunday.

So the focus for the Bruins over the final five weeks of the regular season is to make sure they fend off the Ottawa Senators and win the Northeast Division. That would guarantee them a top-three playoff seed and most likely the No. 2 spot, which would provide an opportunity to have home-ice advantage for at least the first two rounds.

“I don’t know if we have to move up,” goalie Tim Thomas said. “We just have to keep pace. We need to start winning to maintain our spot.”

The Bruins lead the Senators by three points and have three games in hand. That’s the good news.

The bad news is the schedule is cramped and competitive the rest of the way, which is going to stress and test a team trying to get healthy and maintain chemistry after the addition of three players at Monday’s trade deadline.

The Bruins are off today. Starting with tomorrow’s matinee against the Islanders, they’ll play their final 20 games in a span of 36 days.

The only break that’s longer than one day comes March 20-21, when they’ll travel to the West Coast.

Nine games are at home, where the Bruins are 19-11-2.

The roadies include a pair of challenging, three-game trips. The Bruins are at Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and current Southeast Division leader Florida from March 11 to 15 and at San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim from March 22 to 25.

They do have the fourth-best road record in the league at 19-10-1.

Five games are against Northeast Division foes, including one at Ottawa on April 5. The Bruins are 14-4-1 in the division, so that’s a plus.

Conversely, in addition to the Rangers they also face the Capitals and Penguins twice each.